For many, many years racks of various designs have been available for holding kitchenware that has been washed and placed in such racks for drying purposes. Many of such designs have been patented.
U.S. Pat. No. 839,906 to J. B. Timberlake, U.S. Pat. No. 1,515,539 to A. Bank, U.S. Pat. No. 2,070,026 to H. J. Dick, Jr., and U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,424 to A. P. F. Bigatti are directed to folding drying racks, which are generally made of wire, that may be placed on a kitchen counter top to hold kitchenware placed in such racks for drying.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,936,898 to J Miguez, United Kingdom Pat. No. 395,054 to C. Montolieu et al., and United Kingdom Pat. No. 397,273 to E. H. Boss are directed to drying racks which are suitable for resting on a counter top and which include a base member or tray for collecting and/or channeling water draining from kitchenware placed in such racks.
German Patent No. 812,590 to H. Severin is directed to a drying rack that is clamped to the edge of a counter top, and U.S. Pat. No. 601,753 to M. Kaiser, U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,865 to W. 0. Geheb and United Kingdom Patent No, 351,209 to A. G. Melhuish et al. are directed to kitchen racks that are fastened to or suspended from a wall.
In the 1950's and 1960's trailers to be towed by automobiles were purchased by many persons for vacation travel. Subsequently, small pre-fabricated homes, referred to as mobile homes, became a popular form of housing for many people with limited incomes. During the past twenty years the earlier pull-away trailers have been superseded by recreational vehicles, popularly referred to as R-V's which are self-propelled vehicles that include living quarters. The trailers, mobile homes and recreational vehicles have one common feature; the living quarters, including kitchen, bath and sleeping areas, are much smaller than in a conventional home. In particular, the kitchen sinks are small, adjacent counter space is very limited and there is limited distance between the surfaces of the kitchen counters and the cabinets above them.
The invention described hereinafter overcomes certain deficiencies of the prior art drying racks by providing a compact kitchen drying rack particularly adapted to the limited space adjacent the sink in a kitchen of a trailer, mobile home or recreational vehicle, or in any kitchen having a minimum of counter space beside the sink.
An object of the invention is to provide a kitchenware drying rack which is of economical, compact construction and which occupies a minimum amount of counter space adjacent a sink.
Another object of the invention is to provide a kitchenware drying rack which includes a base that will direct water dripping from kitchenware placed in the rack into an adjacent sink.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a kitchenware drying rack which includes a stabilizing platform to prevent the rack from tipping.